Searching for a position can be grueling. Bewildering recruitment websites, intense rivalry, and protracted application processes all conspire to render job seeking one of the most vexing activities imaginable. After dedicating significant effort to an application, in 99.9 percent of instances, you receive no response. It’s as if your efforts are sent into a void—raising doubts about the existence of the opportunities you’ve pursued. Well, as per a new report, that might indeed be the truth.

The Wall Street Journal references internal statistics from the hiring system Greenhouse indicating that one-fifth of online job listings—or between 18% and 22% of advertised positions—are either non-existent or never filled. This information was derived from Greenhouse’s exclusive data, accessible to them because they market automated software facilitating employers in creating job listings.

The increase of the “ghost job” trend has been occurring for a while—much to the dismay of those seeking jobs. The article by the Journal recounts the ordeal of one unfortunate applicant, Serena Dao, who spent over a year job hunting. Dao mentions that before securing her current role, she applied for about 260 positions, often questioning whether the roles she applied for were genuine.

Some observers theorize that posting such ads might be a strategic ploy by businesses to seem outwardly prosperous, even if they aren’t. Fast Company suggests that this tactic may assist firms in creating an illusion of “dynamic recruitment and progress” and aids the “C-suite to achieve quarterly targets without appearing to cut roles from their career pages.” Another analyst for Forbes mentions that ghost jobs can artificially inflate the “actual market availability, prolonging the job search much to the dissatisfaction of numerous job hunters.”

The presence of these non-existent roles has compelled certain platforms to approach job advertisements similarly to how other digital content is handled: classified as either A) authenticated or B) potential misinformation. Both Greenhouse and LinkedIn now offer a job verification feature, as reported by the Journal, enabling users to ascertain if a position is genuine. “It’s rather a nightmare,” Jon Stross, president and co-founder of Greenhouse, stated to the Journal. “The employment landscape has become more demoralizing than ever.”